The Night I Fell in Love With Dance Music: Gregory Alexander

In this ongoing series, dance music industry veterans talk about the night they became slaves to the beat.

As a cofounder of Los Angeles’ A Club Called Rhonda, Gregory Alexander has hosted epic nights out for thousands of party people in L.A. and beyond for the last seven years. Famous for its opulent style and unbridled hedonism, Rhonda is one of the longest-standing club nights in town, known for booking underground acts and musical icons in intimate spaces. Over the years, artists including James Murphy, Basement Jaxx, Theo Parrish and Etienne de Crecy have all presided over the decks.

Now 30, Alexander began training for his job as a nightlife impresario at age 14, when his uncle took the then Catholic high school student to an illegal warehouse rave in Los Angeles.

Here, Alexander discusses the night that changed his life and carved out his career path.

Tell me about the night you fell in love with dance music.
The first night was really interesting, because I was just 14 and my uncle, who was 19 at the time, took me out. I was in my first year of high school and his father, my grandfather, was supposed to be watching me while my parents were away.

Were you nervous?
He came to pick me up and was like, “Hey, we’re going out to party! Don’t tell your grandpa; just hop into the car.” I was just like, “Uh, okay.” A couple of his friends were with him, and he drove us out to… it must’ve been Downtown L.A. or Pomona or some random place that had a warehouse.

What happened when you got there?
We go to the rave in some old theater, and we partied all night. My uncle prepped me for it like, “This is what you should be doing. Don’t let anyone approach you like this. Don’t let anyone touch you like this. Make sure you stay close to me.” I just dove head-first into the party scene.

What were your impressions of it, as a 14-year-old?
I was just roaming through the different rooms, and each room had its own different style of house music with a bunch of people in front of the speakers. I did the same thing—crawled inside the speakers. The music just envelops you when you’re that close to the bass. We were driving around after that too, all night, driving in the car through the intercity parts of L.A., listening to house music. I was just looking out the window at all the lights, feeling like I never really belonged anywhere before, and finally feeling like, “This is what I need to go and do. I need to find more of this—more of these people and places.”

What was it that made you feel so welcome?
I just knew I didn’t feel accepted by the people I was already around and by the scene I was already in. I didn’t feel interested in high school or any of the people there. When I found house music and raving and going out in L.A.—and nightlife in general—you just see so many different people that you’re not normally in close quarters with. Everybody there is willing to accept you; they all want to meet you, and they all want to exchange numbers or gifts with each other.

How did that affect you?
It sounds hokey now to me now, but looking back at that time, I was just completely into the acceptance of these random groups—whether it was sitting in a cuddle puddle, or people coming and hugging you in the middle of this dark place. I don’t even know if that really happens anymore, but at that time, it was exactly what I needed. All of that mixed with the constant beat of the music I was already brought up on. Finding a different way to experience it was completely exciting to me.

So you have this profound experience and exciting new group of friends. How do you then deal with the real world of being a freshman in high school?
I went back to school and started talking about this place and experience and found people who were going to those things. Most of those kids were older—they were seniors, and I was a freshman—but they immediately took me under their wing and were like, “Yeah, we’re going to one this weekend. Do you want to come with us?” I’m like, “Yeah. Sure. Awesome.” I had just never experienced that whole camaraderie until then, and being that it was based around music and dancing and being out all night too, which I had never up until then done, I immediately found a sort of home where I could go to. I consistently started going as much as I could. I think I was going every weekend after that.

Alexander, at age 14

How did you balance being 14 and going to all-night parties every weekend?
At the time, it was a complete escape for me, because I wasn’t ready to deal with myself and my own issues. A lot of it had to do with me being gay, and not fitting in, and feeling like I wanted to get out of my own skin completely. I went to a private Catholic high school, so we’re in uniforms behind gated parking lots with security guards all over the place. It was a high-security sort of situation. Our parents were paying a lot of money for me to go here.

Did your experiences change as you went out more?
I stopped going to those raves completely by the time I was 16, and then I didn’t really go again until I was going to bars at 19. It was a completely different style of things; the music had changed, and the people had changed.

How did that first night stay with you?
I felt connected to dance music and nightlife and the camaraderie of going out together and having an elevated experience. I think a lot of it stayed with me and affects the parties I do now, because even though we throw legal parties, we always have a wink in our eye about things and always push the limits of what we can achieve within the legal boundaries. When we’re talking to the Roosevelt about this three-room party we’re doing, it reminds me of those old days when I would go to a different room in the party, and each room had different music and a different vibe.

You maintain a sense of mischief that way.
Yeah, I think it’s necessary. You want to know that something could happen at any moment. There’s always those moments you come back to. I think everybody has them—when you come back after a night out, and you’re walking home and someone else is walking to work, and you’re like, “Oh my god, I’m part of a completely different part of society right now. There are people above ground, and I’m under that right now. Can they even see me?”

There’s something so delicious about that feeling.
Yeah, it definitely feels like an accomplishment. You made it through the night. You’re almost home, and you don’t have to go to work the next day. You’re in on the secret, and nobody else knows it.

And at this point in your life, you’ve turned that feeling into something sustainable.
For sure. I had to turn a lifetime worth of partying into some sort of career.

A Club Called Rhonda hosts its Valentine’s Day Party, Rhondavous, this Friday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Basement Jaxx, Hercules & Love Affair, Holy Ghost and Andy Butler are all on the lineup.

Follow A Club Called Rhonda on Facebook | Twitter